Air conditioning grille or register assembly



Sept. 28, 1948.

H. E. COLEMAN AIR CONDITIONING GRILLE OR REGISTER ASSEMBLY Filed May 18, 1945 l/nem E Calf/Wk Patented Sept. 28, 1948 AIR CONDITIONING GRILLE OR REGISTER ASSEMBLY Harry E. Coleman, Mount Vernon, N. Y.

Application May 18, 1945, Serial No. 594,559

6 Claims.

This invention relates to the installation of the registers or grilles for the air outlets or air inlets of air conditioning systems such, for example, as hot air heating systems, and has for its general object the provision of prefabricated assemblies which can be placed in position in a house or other building under construction before the finished wall is applied to the studding of the building and yet be in their proper relations to the contiguous parts of the room wall when this wall has been finished.

In the present practice of installing the registers or grilles for the air outlets or air inlets of air conditioning systems, and particularly for the air outlets of forced draft hot air heating systems, the air ducts are usually installed between the studs of the building and the duct ends, to which the grilles or registers are to be attached, and are carried into the room far enough to provide material for flanging the duct end over the wall, after the finished wall has been applied to the studding, and also to provide for the attachment of the wall ferrule plate which carries the grille or register, according as the opening is to be used as an inlet or as an outlet. This practice has many drawbacks. In the first place, it requires considerable additional work after the ducts have been installed to connect the wall ferrule plates, registers and grilles to the outlet or inlet ends of the ducts. Moreover, the act of flanging the end of the duct to provide for the connection is apt to cause injury to the finished wall with the result that further work frequently has to :be done on the wall and, even then, a desirably tight connection cannot always be obtained. This is particularly true with respect to making the connection between the ferrule plate and the duct tight against lateral leakage. Such lateral leakage is apt to cause dust streaks to be formed on the wall about the outlets.

One of the most common practices in the installation of forced draft hot air heating systems is to place the register through which the air is introduced into theroom to be heated as close to the floor as possible in order to insure heating of the floor. If the wall is provided with a base board the hot air register is sometimes located in the base board but more often just above it.

The present invention aims not only to facilitate the installation of the complete system of air ducts, grilles and registers of an air-conditioning system before the inside walls are applied to the studding in building construction, but also to provide for the more convenient installation of the outlet grilles and registers in the base boards or adjacent to the ceilings of the rooms of the building where some of the most desirable heating and circulating effects are obtained. To this end the invention contemplates the provision of a grille or register carrying wall ferrule or plate which may have formed integral with it a section of any molding associated with the base board or ceiling, such, for example, as the quarter round usually attached to the base board and to the floor, and/or the top molding some times provided on base boards, or the quarter round and/ or picture molding on the upper wall;

An important feature of the invention is the provision of a grille-carrying wall ferrule plate for use in air conditioning systems in which an air duct, adapted to be located between studs of the building to be air conditioned, has a horizontal portion extending to the room face of the finished wall which is to be carried by the studding, said grille-carrying ferrule plate being permanently connected in substantially lateral air-tight relation to the room end of the horizontal duct portion before the finished wall is, attached to the studding and having rearwardly extending integral flange portions thereof adapted to, be connected to the studs between which the duct is located to support and to maintain said ferrule plate and said duct end in the desired ultimate relation to the finished wall.

Although the invention finds its widest utility in the construction of prefabricated assemblies for use in installing air conditioning systems having a central heating or cooling unit from which the forced circulation starts, it will be understood that, with only slight modification, it is equally applicable to air conditioning systems in which the air is heated or cooled from radiators located adjacent to the air outlets.

Other objects and important features of the invention to which reference has not specifically been made hereinabove will appear hereinafter when the following description and claims are considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a top plan view of a prefabricated air outlet or air inlet assembly for an air conditioning system embodying the present invention, this view showing the assembly attached to the studs between which the air duct is located;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the structure shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation, with a part of one of the studs broken away, this view also showing a portion of the floor in its proper relation to the assembly. This view also shows a portion of the finished wall on one of the studs to indicate its relation to the assembly;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the assemblies, unattached to the studding, looking at it from the right and slightly in front thereof;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the same assembly, also looking at it from the right but slightly to the rear thereof.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention, the assembly is shown as comprising a stack or duct end 3 in the form of a box-like duct elbow having a vertical portion adapted substantially to fit between two of the studs- [2 of the building to be air conditioned and a horizonal portion extending in front of the studs a sufiicient distance to bring the ferrule wall plate 2 substantially flush with the outer face of the finished wall of the room in which the outlet is to be located, or, as shown particularly in the drawings, flush with the outer surface of the base board of this wall. The duct elbow 3 is formed of sheet metal as is also the ferrule wall plate 2 and the two parts are preferably permanently connected together before installation in any suitable manner, as, for example, by welding, either by spot welding or otherwise. This connection, in a prefabricated unit of this sort, can obviously be so made that there will be no lateral leakage of air through the weld seams.

As above pointed out, the illustrative assembly is intended primarily for use with a base board air-conditioning outlet or inlet and the ferrule plate 2 carries a grille I, or it may be a register of standard type, or the grille i may have behind it in the duct a damper 5 arranged to be operated by a handle I 5 to control the flow of the air.

To secure the assembly, that is, the duct elbow 3 having the attached grille-carrying ferrule plate 2, in proper position on the studs l2 of the building so that it will be in its proper relation to the wall base board when the finished Wall is attached to the studding, the ferrule plate 2 is provided with end flanges 4 extending rearwardly therefrom and the dimensions of the ferrule plate 2 are preferabl such, in the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, that these flanges 4 will overlap the outer sides of the studs l2 between which the air duct, including the elbow 3, is located. This would give a horizontal dimension for the plate 2 of approximately 18 inches where it is designed for the standard spacing of studs of 16 inch on centers. As above suggested, the flange 4 itself hasxa horizontal dimension suflicient to locate the plate 2 flush with the outer face of the base board of the wall of the room in which the outlet is to be located and still provide suflicient overlap of the stud l2 for firm attachment thereto, as, for example, by nails l I.

To insure quick positioning of the assembly in its proper relation to the studding so that the plate 2 shall be substantially flush with the outer face of the wall base board, the plate 2 is preferably provided also with integral rearwardly offset flanges I and 9 arranged to engage the front faces of the studs 1 2 and thus automatically determine the amount of overlap of the end flanges 4 on the sides of the studs I! while at the same time providing means for additional attachment of the assembly to the studding, as, for example, by other nails ll driven through these flanges T and B'into the front faces of the studs [2. As herein shown, these flanges l and 9 are carried by molding sections 6 and 3 formed on the plate 2, the lower molding section 6 being formed as a quarter round, to constitute a section of the usual quarter round molding to be found between the lower margin of the base board and the floor, and the upper molding 8 being formed to correspond to the'design of the top molding of the base board with which the assembly is to be used and thus to constitute a section of said base board top molding;

It will be seen that the flange 1 is upwardly bent from the top of this upper molding 8 so that the finished wall I3 can be brought into the angle between the flange 1 and the horizontal rearward extension of the molding 8. It will also be seen that the flange 9 extends downwardly from a horizontal rearward extension of the lower molding 6 so that the floor M can be extended into the angle between the flange 9 and this horizontal rearward extension of the molding 6. This insures a tight upper joint be tween the assembly and the wall and a tight lower joint between the assembly and the floor, both the wall and the floor being applied after the original installation of the assembly. It will also be seen that the base board can be brought into tight relation to the two ends of the assembly thus insuring tight joints at the ends.

Although the moldings 6 and 8 are illustrat ed as being of lengths corresponding to the length of the plate 2 so that they form sections of the top and bottom moldings of the base board equivalent in length to the section of the :base board of which the plate 2 forms a part, it will be understood that,' if desired, these moldings 6' and and 8, as well as the plate 2, could be formed of any suitable length to overlap any desired number of studs.

As hereinabove suggested, although, the invention finds its widest application in the provision of prefabricated assemblies such as shown in the drawings for air conditioning systems which receive their conditioned air from a central conditioning unit, it will be understood that the grille-carrying wall ferrule plate, with its studattaching flanges, has equal utility in facilitating the installation of the outlet grilles or registers for air conditioning systems in which the air conditioning unit, such as a steam radiator, is itself located in the wall in proximity to the grille or register.

As also hereinabove suggested, the invention is equally applicable to the installation of grilles or registers for the air outlets or air inlets of air conditioning systems where these grilles or registers are installed near the ceiling of a room. In such case, if a quarter round or picture molding is provided in the side wall adjacent to the ceiling then the flange-carrying molding part of the wall ferrule plate will have a cross section corresponding to that of the wall molding. In those cases in which no molding is provided on the side wall adjacent to or at a predetermined distance below the ceiling, neither molding 6 nor molding 8 will be provided on the plate 2 but instead the horizontal extensions which carry the flanges 1 and 8 will go directly back from the upper and lower edges of the face 2.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A prefabricated air outlet or air inlet assembly forair conditioning systems comprising, in

' combination, a duct elbow having a vertical portion adapted to be located between two studs of a building and in which it is to be installed and a horizontal portion adapted to extend through the f nished wall which is to be carried by the studding and a, grille-carrying wall ferrule plate connected to the room end of said horizontal duct portion, said assembly having rearwardly extendin flanges overlapping the sides of said studs and adapted to be connected thereto, before the wall is applied, to support and to maintain said ferrule and said'duct end in the desired ultimate relation to the finished wall and also having integral rearwardly offset top and bottom flanges arranged to be connected to the front faces of the two studs between which the duct is located.

2. A prefabricated air outlet or air inlet assembly for air conditioning systems comprising, in combination, a duct elbow having a vertical portion adapted to be located between two studs of a building in which it is to be installed and a horizontal portion adapted to extend through the finished wall which is to be carried by the studding and a grille-carrying wall ferrule plate connected to the room end of said horizontal duct portion, said assembly having rearwardly extending flanges overlapping the sides of said studs and adapted to be connected thereto, before the wall is applied, to support and to maintain said ferrule and said duct end in the desired ultimate relation to the finished wall, said ferrule plate having formed integral therewith a section of the base-board quarter round and a section of the base-board top molding.

3. A grille-carrying wall ferrule plate for use in an air conditioning system in which an air duct, adapted to be located between studs of the building to be air conditioned, has a horizontal portion extending to the room face of the finished wall which is to be carried by the studding, said grille-carrying ferrule plate being connectible in substantially lateral air-tight relation to the room end of the horizontal duct portion before the finished wall is attached to the studding and itself having rearwardly extending integral end flanges adapted to be connected to the sides of the studs between which the duct is located and having also rearwardly offset top and bottom flanges adapted to be connected to the front faces of said studs.

4. A grille-carrying wall ferrule plate for use in an air conditioning system in which an air duct, adapted to be located between studs of the building to be air conditioned, has a horizontal portion extending to the room face of the finished wall which is to be carried by the studding, said grille-carrying ferrule plate being connectible in substantially lateral air-tight relation to the room end of the horizontal duct portion before the finished wall is attached to the studding and itself having rearwardly extending integral end flanges adapted to be connected to the sides of the studs between which the duct is located and also having formed integral therewith a section of the base-board quarter round.

5. A grille-carrying wall ferrule plate for use in an air conditioning system in which an air duct, adapted to be located between studs of the building to be air conditioned, has a horizontal portion extending to the room face of the finished wall which is to be carried by the studding, said grille-carrying ferrule plate being connectible in substantially lateral air-tight relation to the room end of the horizontal duct portion before the finished wall is attached to the studding and itself having rearwardly extending integral end flanges adapted to be connected to the sides of the studs between which the duct is located and also having formed integral therewith a section of the base-board top molding.

6. A grille-carrying wall ferrule plate for use in an air conditioning system in which an air duct.

between which the duct is located and also having formed integral therewith a section of the base-board quarter round and a section of the base-board top molding and having flanged rearward extensions of said quarter round and said top molding adapted to be connected to the front faces of the studs between which'the air duct is located.

HARRY E. COLEMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 291,428 Trotter Jan. 1, 1884 1,288,024 Kendig Dec. 17, 1918 1,354,746 Hendrickson Oct. 5, 1920 1,959,132 Jones May 15, 1934 1,998,234 Grimes Apr. 16, 1935 2,102,681 Curti Dec. 21, 1937 

